Senators’ summit takes crack at economy

Gov. Sam Brownback will be in Iola next week for a brainstorming session about spurring economic development in southeast Kansas.
The Nov. 17 event, “Together We Succeed: Southeast Kansas Economic Summit,” is sponsored by the 17-county region’s four representatives to the state Senate, including Sen. Jeff King, Allen County’s statesman.
The summit is from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at St. John’s Catholic Parish Hall and is open to the public.
Discussion not only will serve as an opportunity for southeast Kansas business and community leaders to hear analyses of the region’s economic situation from the governor, the Rural Policy Research Institute and legislators, King said, but also creates a venue to present ideas about how to increase economic development.
“It seems like for decades southeast Kansas has been good at the Friday night football rivalry but bad at coming together to work as a team on Monday morning,” said the Independence Republican said, referring to the region’s struggle to get a handle on its poor unemployment rate and health care concerns. “This is the start of what we hope will be a long-term, multi-year process to promote regional economic development and problem-solving in southeast Kansas. This event, I hope, will be viewed more as a kickoff summit than a conclusion to an activity.”
To prepare for the summit, King said a series of interviews were conducted with more than 50 business and community leaders from around the area.
“It was intentionally broad-based. We had at least one person from all of the 17 counties and we tried to evenly divide the 
interviews among various parts of southeast Kansas,” King said.
After remarks by Iola Mayor Bill Shirley, Brownback, state commerce officials, and summit attendees will be split into groups to brainstorm and discuss key economic indicators impacting development in southeast Kansas.
“Those breakout sessions will divide participants into smaller groups where we’ll look at some of the survey results that we’ve gotten and talk about some of the key issues facing southeast Kansas, problems that need to be overcome and things that just need to be addressed,” King said.
John McRae, Iola Industries president, said everyone in southeast Kansas should be encouraged that the state is reaching out to the region, rather than sitting idly by.
“It’s significant to me that the state’s taking the time to come see us,” he said. “That’s a first.”
All 15 Iola Industries board members are expected to attend, McRae said.
“I hope there are things that we can learn and I hope there are things that folks at the state level can learn,” he said.
Iola City Administrator Carl Slaugh agreed both the public and public officials should learn from each other during the summit, adding that existing incentive programs offered by the state will most likely be touched upon.
“The state has modified their programs over the years to provide incentives to various businesses,” he said. “They’re probably just looking at some ways to refine those.”
Both McRae and King said it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect 300 to 400 people for the summit.
“For now, the biggest issue was finding a building large enough to hold them,” McRae said.
But a good turnout won’t determine if the event is successful, King said.
“The momentum that comes out of the summit and what happens in the days, weeks and months after the summit is going to be how we measure the success of the venture, even more so than the number of attendees.”
King said it is his hope that an economic steering committee will be formed during the summit.
“We’re not trying to replace or supplement any other of the economic development organizations. We’re just trying to provide a new mechanism to help bring southeast Kansas together,” he said. “We’d like to facilitate communication between all groups in southeast Kansas.”
Admission is free, with seating to accommodate 300. Those planning to attend should register at www.wix.com/togetherwesucceedsek/together-we-succeed.